Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke. — Will Rogers
"Politics is all about getting and keeping power, by the few over the many, and by any means necessary. Alpha males form alliances with influential males and females — or subordinate males form coalitions to overpower the alpha male, and then consolidate their power by forming alliances with influential females. Males seldom maintain the alpha rank for more than four years." Then there’s another round of opportunistic alliances and vicious fighting to crown a new leader — or as we call them, elections — Frans de Waal, Chimpanzee Politics (p. 202).
In another era, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would have worked for the President as Licensed Fools: Court Jesters. Such fools or court jesters were licensed – and expected – to argue against or mock the ruler’s opinions, and those of his distinguished advisors and guests. The official advisors were — as they still are — "Yes" people, afraid that the ruler might react to strong contrary opinions or facts by shooting the messenger. Advisors employed as part of the hierarchy can easily let career aspirations trump their concern for Truth.
One celebrated example of a clever Fool happened in 1340. France’s Phillippe VI had to be told that his French fleet had been destroyed by the English at the Battle of Sluys. His court Jester gave him the news that England’s sailors "don’t even have the guts to jump into the water like our brave French."
The Licensed Fool’s status was one of privilege within a royal or noble household. His folly could be seen as the raving of a lunatic, but the best Fools were far from foolish, and played a critical role in their master’s court. Some foolishness was expected – and the Fools usually dressed in mismatching clothes and those floppy three-cornered hats.
In his play "Twelfth Night," Shakespeare described the court Jester Feste as "wise enough to play the Fool." Around the same time, Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603) is reported to have chastised one of her Jesters for being too easy on her. A good Fool, unlike foolish lapdogs, could bring out the best in good leaders.
Stephen Colbert’s roast of George W. Bush and his staff at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner was as close as we’ve come to seeing a Licensed Fool, and to see the license he took with it, mocking the President in a manner that would get any White House staffer fired. Nor did he limit his roasting to the President. He also roasted all the correspondents there – to a very quiet audience. Colbert was sometimes funny, sometimes scathing, sometimes hit the bull’s eye, and was sometimes a silly embarrassment, just as his Medieval predecessors were.
Not all fools were honored. Regular fools – foolish, shallow or dense people – were tolerated as people "touched by God," in the sense of being "a bit touched," as some older people still say. Even in today’s playing cards, the Joker has no place in the hierarchy, but – because he is "wild" – can trump them all.
However, there is a catch to all this Foolery.
Weak and insecure leaders are not likely to hire good Fools because they might pop the ruler’s precious attitude of certainty. It takes very secure leaders to give their Fools license to correct and mock them – let alone to scold them for not being tough enough. The only rulers eager to license their capitalized Fools are those who have the vision and courage to serve other capitalized words, like Truth, Justice, Compassion and the rest of what Abraham Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature."
Without the corrective voice of good Fools, politics really is "all about getting and keeping power, by the few over the many, and by any means necessary." This may be why Newt Gingrich recommended Frans De Waal’s 1982 book Chimpanzee Politics to all new members of Congress in 1994. The message seemed to be that in order to play the game of politics at a high level, they needed to understand how it is done by the only other species that plays the game like – and sometimes better than – we do.
When real Fools are too threatening, leaders decorate their stage with foolish people — and faux news — to divert our attention from the betrayal of all who trusted them to care for us.
The sadness, perhaps the tragedy, of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert is that they, like many of our best comics, are doing what good Fools have always done. But today, they’re playing to an audience that may not contain leaders interested in or capable of responding to our citizens, or to those "wise enough to play the Fool."